Sweet Evelina appears in "Heart Songs" as "Dear Evelina, Sweet Evelina," reversing the first words of the chorus in the original 1863 sheet music and causing some confusion. The mistaken pronunciation "Evalina" is also common.

The song as sung by "all the minstrel bands" , is listed on the title page of the sheet music (Levy Sheet Music) as "Composed and arranged for the Piano Forte by Mrs. Parkhurst."
Words by "M", melody by "T."
The composers of a number of the minstrel songs are unknown or at best guessed at.
The guess "tradtion" in the Traditional Ballad Index seems to be wrong, since lyrics from before the 1863 publication are unknown.